QUEENSLAND VOLCANOES

ATHERTON VOLCANO

Hallorans Hill

17.5 S, 144.5 E Lava-field Province

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Located on the Atherton Tableland southwest of Cairns, Queensland. There are more than 50 eruptive centres covering an area of about 1,800 sq km, including a number of structures such as cinder cones, lava shields, maars and diatremes.

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At the outskirts of Atherton is Hallorans Hill, a shield volcano.

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Mt Quincan, composed of 2 craters, is a cinder cone about 190 m above the surrounding area. Along the Atherton-Youngaburra road are a series of cinder cones, the 7 Sisters, that formed along a fissure.

Mt Quincan

Malanda Volcano is a heavily eroded shield volcano that erupted about 3 million years ago

CHUDLEIGH VOLCANO

Chundleigh Volcano is located south of Lyndhurst on the Kennedy Development Road in North Queensland. Total area of Chudleigh volcano is 2000 sq km. A lava flow extends 100 km from Barkers Crater down the Einasleigh River.

McBRIDE (UNDARA) VOLCANO

The McBride Volcanic Province of northern Queensland covers an area of about 5000 km2, and is composed of basaltic lava flows erupted from many large and small volcanoes. An older series of basalts, preserved in mesas, have K‐Ar ages in the range 7.3 to 7.8 m.y., late Miocene. Most of the volcanic rocks of the Province were erupted in the interval from 2.7 m.y. ago (late Pliocene) to almost the present day. No significant break in the volcanism is recognized during this younger period of activity. The K‐Ar ages are consistent with the stratigraphical control, based mainly on geomorphological evidence.

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It is located 150 km SW Atherton. The most famous feature of the volcanic province is Undara Lava Tubes which form part of the longest lava flow on earth (160 km).

Kinrara Volcano - Erupted 7000 years ago. Kinara is one of the most recent volcanic eruptions in Australia.

McBride Volcano Eruptions

7,000 years ago. Kinrara Volcano
190,000 years ago. Undara Volcano.

McLEAN VOLCANO

15.8 S, 144.8 E Lava-field Province Extinct volcano

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McLean volcano is located southwest of Cooktown in North Queensland. The volcano contains 18 volcanic vents composed of scoria cones and composite cones.

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Older dissected volcanoes are located 10 km south of Laleland Downs, and overlie Byerstone Range escarpment.

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McLean Volcano last erupted Less than one million years ago

NULLA VOLCANO

19.7 S, 145.3 E Lava-field Province Extinct volcano

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Nulla volcano is located 165 km southwest of Townsville in North Queensland, on the eastern flank of the Great Dividing Range. The volcano covers an area of 7500 sq km. Most of the 46 identified vents produced lava which flowed north east towards Burdekin Valley.

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The most recent eruptions from Toomba vent produced lava flows which extended 120 km.

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Nulla Volcano last erupted 13,000 years ago (Toomba Volcano).

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PIEBALD VOLCANO

Piebald Volcano is located 40 km north of Cooktown in North Queensland. The volcano consists of two areas. The first is at the head of Starcke River, south of Mt Webb National Park. The second volcanic area is west of Hope Vale.

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Hope Vale (Hopevale) is an aboriginal community in eastern Cape York. Mt Piebald is the most recently active cone, and is located 3 km SW of Hope Vale.

Piebald Volcano Eruptions

STURGEON VOLCANO

Sturgeon Volcano is located SW of Townsville. It is the most Western of the Queensland volcanoes.

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​Wide lava plains of the Sturgeon volcanic field cover 7500 km2. The youngest lava flow is dated at 0.92 Ma and traveled 120 km from its source at Twins crater

Sturgeon Volcano last erupted 920,000 years ago.

View of Mount Sturgeon and Abrupt from the crater of Bald Hill, an extinct volcano (c. 1858)

WALLAROO VOLCANO

18.0 S, 145.4 E Lava-field Province Extinct volcano

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Wallaroo volcano is located 50 km SW of Atherton, in north Queensland.

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Wallaroo Volcano last erupted less than 5 million years ago.

BAUHINIA VOLCANO

24.8 S, 149.5 E Extinct Lava-field province

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An extinct lava-field province about 300 km west of Bundaberg, covering an area of about 500 sq km. There are 7 lava flows in theExpedition Range. At Mt Nicholson there are 310 m of tuffs. At Stonecroft Homestead, in the eastern part of the province there is a volcanic vent. Eruptions about 3 km southwest of Bauhinia Downs are among the most recent, occurring about 23 million years ago.

HILLSBOROUGH VOLCANO

Cape Hillsborough

21.03 S, 148.94 E summit elevation 590 m Extinct volcanic province

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Cape Hillsborough is located 25km North West of Mackay. It is located within the Cape Hillsborough National Park. The volcano consists of two main exposed volcanoes, Cape Hillsborough on the coast, and Mount Jukes further inland.

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On the coast boulders of rhyolite are found scattered on the foreshore and headlands. The Yuibera people are the traditional owners of this area. Mt Jukes is a granite plug 547 m high and 1 km in diameter, and Mt Blackwood (590 m) are in the Pioneer Peaks National Park.

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The rocky hills and shores of Cape Hillsborough are the dramatic remnants of an ancient volcano, which exploded there about 34 million years ago. It was the first of a line of volcanoes that erupted down the eastern side of Australia from 34 to six million years ago, as the Australian crustal plate drifted northwards over a stationary ‘hot-spot’ in the Earth’s mantle below.

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Its earliest lavas were of black basalt, some of which can be seen on the north side of Andrews Point and just south of Cape Hillsborough itself. Later the lava type changed to rhyolite, which is very sticky and gas-rich, and commonly gives explosive eruptions. Fine ash, or tuff, and coarser cobble and boulder agglomerate from early eruptions can be seen in prominent white layers above Beachcombers Bay. Other chaotic beds of large blocks may have resulted from slumping down the side of the volcano. Later, flows of light purple-grey rhyolite lava were erupted; some were very sticky and became broken up as they flowed along. These can be seen at Division Rocks and on the Andrews Point track above the resort. Boulders of all these rock types have been thrown up on to the beaches by storm waves and are fascinating to explore.

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All the volcanic strata seen on the hillsides are clearly sloping to the south, suggesting we are now seeing only the southern flank of the volcano, the northern part of which has been eroded away.

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Some of the older rocks on which the volcano rests can be seen on the tidal causeway linking Wedge Island. They are impure limestones with shell fragments that accumulated in a narrow, elongate fresh-water basin (the Hillsborough Basin) between 65 and 55 million years ago.

The sands of the beaches are notable for their shimmering flakes of mica. They have been washed northwards from the mouth of the Pioneer River, which drains granite country where mica is common. There is little mica in the rocks at Cape Hillsborough itself.

The nearby peaks of Mount Jukes and Mount Blackwood are the same age as the Cape Hillsborough volcano. They represent plugs of magma beneath a second nearby volcano whose upper parts have been entirely removed by erosion. Pinnacle Peak is also a plug of rhyolite magma.

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Volcanic activity occurred arounf 33.2 million years ago

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HOY VOLCANO

23.40 S, 147.54 E summit elevation 550 m Extinct volcano

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A small volcanic province west of Emerald, central Queensland. A 550 m high volcanic plug is present in the Mt Leura Conservation Park west of Rubyvale. More than 70 volcanic plugs are found in an area 50 km wide, making it an unusual volcanic province for central Queensland. Anakie Hill, 15 km southeast of the Hoy province, is surrounded by extensive lava flows. Sapphire and zircon alluvial deposits are found within this region.

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Last known activity was between 14 to 57 million years ago.

MITCHELL VOLCANO

26.0 S, 148.2 E Lava-field province Extinct volcano

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Mitchell Volcano is situated NE of Mitchell in central Queensland. The volcano contains basaltic lava flows, which follow old river courses over a distance of 120 km. Small basaltic lava caps, 350-450 m high are located about 30 km NE of Roma. There is a dyke intrusion 17 km NE of Injune.

Mt Fort Cooper is a mesa 1.5 km in diameter and 530 m high, northwest of the town of Nebo.

It is believed that it was last active around 16 to 35 million years ago

PEAK RANGE VOLCANO

22.71 S, 148.06 E

Peak Range National Park is 50 km ENE of Clermont (274 km SW of Mackay). The volcano is a linear feature which stretches for 100 km, and covers an area of 2500 sq km.

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The Peak Range is a chain of prominent and picturesque mountains between Moranbah, Clermont and Dysart. The sharp peaks are visible from a considerable distance across the flat country plains and are most spectacular viewed at sunrise and sunset. The Peak Range has been built up by an extensive sequence of basalt flows and rhyolite/trachyte intrusive bodies, which erupted from the Peak Range Volcano, a ‘hot spot' between 32 and 29 million years ago.

Photo courtesy of Jarrod Allison

ROCKHAMPTON VOLCANO

23.3 S, 150.4 E Summit elevation 475 m

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Before you ask, yes you read correctly - Rockhampton Volcano, Rockhampton was not just famous for producing fine cattle and one of the best tennis players in the world - Rod Laver, but it had its own volcano!

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The Rockhampton Volcano, Rockhampton Volcanic Province, west of Rockhampton, Queensland. The volcano is 475 m high, covering an area of about 3,000 km3, forming an elongate plateau that stretches from Mt Salmon to Native Cat Range.

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It was last known to be active around 67-71 million years ago

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24.08 S, 148.07 E summit elevation 600 m

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This 60 km south of Emerald, in a large volcanic province covering 7,000 sq km. There is a mesa-like plateaux that has several peaks rising above the surrounding plains. 8 km north of Springsure Felsic outcrops and peaks are found in the Minerva Hills National Park. Some peaks in the volcanic province are Mt McDonald (522 m), Mt Borambool, Mt Zamia, Mt Catherine and Mt Sterculia.

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The volcanic activity in this area occurred between 33 and 24 million years ago.